Brit scholar predicts new Chinese world order

MANILA, Philippines - Author and academic Dr Martin Jacques believes democracy is coming to China but not in the form seen in Western countries.

Jacques, author of the book "When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order", said China has always been historically and culturally different from the West.

He noted that there is a Western conceit that as China modernizes, "it will become more like a Western style society when it will not."

"I think democracy in China is and will happen but it will happen in a very Chinese way. It will not simply be a mirror image of the American political system. God forbid. It will remain very distinctive...This old empire has kept together where all the other empires have disappeared in a most remarkable way," he said in an interview on ANC's Headstart.

Jacques also noted that China has a very sophisticated culture with an extremely advanced form of governance that is familiar on how to run a huge country.

He also noted that as a civilization-state, China does not have just one political system. He pointed out that China maintained a capitalist system in Hong Kong after the turnover.

"I think China has the most competent state in the world. China knows how to run things. When we talk about governments in the West, we only talk about how to elect and select. The Chinese are not reticent about the state. The Chinese think the state is crucial to China. With the family, it is the defining institution" he said.

He added: "As China becomes the most important and powerful country in the world, it will set a new tone in the world. A civilization state that allows a lot of variety."
ANC Headstart, November 21, 2012